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Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c9.s1: I. Empire of Magadha

Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c9.s1

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I. Empire of Magadha

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The dominant characteristic of the period with which we propose to deal is the rise and growth of a New Monarchy in Eastern India of which we have a presage in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* :

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"In this eastern quarter (*prāchyām diśi*) whatever kings there are of the eastern peoples, they are anointed for imperial rule (*sāmrājya*); 'Oh emperor' (*samrāṭ*) they style him when anointed."¹

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¹ Keith *Rigveda Br.*, p 330.

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The eastern peoples (*prāchyas*) are not specified by the *Brāhmaṇa* in the same way as those of the South, the North and the Middle Country. But there can hardly be any doubt that they lived to the east of the *dhruvā madhyamā diś* and thus answer to the *Prasii* of the Greek writers and the confederate nations who dominated the valleys of the lower Ganges and the Son. The most eminent among these nations was Magadha which embraced the modern districts of Patna and Gaya.

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Several factors contributed to the greatness of the new star in the firmament of Indian politics. It occupied a strategic position between the upper and the lower parts of the Gangetic plain. It possessed an impregnable fort in a mountain fastness and built another at the confluence of two mighty streams, the highways of trade and commerce in those days. It had a fertile soil and its resources included an elephant corps which was truly formidable.

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But advantages of position and material resources alone cannot raise a nation to eminence. It is the character and the spirit of the people "that give all their life and efficacy to them". As in Western Europe, so in Magadha, we have a commingling of races and cultures. Kikatas and other *Anāryas* blended here with priestly and fighting clans of Aryan India as Celts did with Latins and Teutons in Gaul and some neighbouring lands of Western Europe. It is possible to detect two strands in the cultural as well as the ethnic texture of the Magadhan people. The same race that produced fierce warriors and exterminators of princes and peoples listened to the quiet teachings of Mahāvīra the Jina and Gautama the Buddha. It played a part in the evolution of a universal religion as it did in the foundation of a pan-Indian empire. The wide outlook of the Magadhans was not a little due to the absence of the rigidity that marked the social polity that evolved on the banks of the Sarasvati and the upper Ganges. In their realm Brāhmaṇas could fraternize with Vrātyas. Kshatriyas could admit plebeian (Śūdra) girls to their harem, blue-blooded aristocrats could be done to death or otherwise deprived of the throne to make room for the child of a nagara-śobhinī, and a barber could aspire to imperial dignity.

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Magadhan kings and statesmen were sometimes ruthless in their methods. But they had the wisdom to establish an efficient system of government in which high bureaucratic functionaries (mahāmātras) as well as village headmen (grāmikas) had their share. Foreign observers speak with evident approbation of their judiciary, roads, irrigation works and care of alien residents. While not fighting shy of metaphysics, they laid great stress on exertion (parākrama) in this mundane life with the object of welding the diverse elements of greater India (Jambudvīpa) into a unit bound by political as well as cultural ties. This was facilitated by the ancient idea of the all-encompassing Purusha—later called Mahāpurusha (The Great Being)—and his political counterpart the Sole Sovereign (Ekarāṭ or Chakravartin). In the Magadha minstrelsy the rulers of the Prasii had an instrument which they could use for popular education and inspiration in times of trouble and despondency. We owe much of our knowledge of ancient times to these bards.

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The early dynastic history of Magadha is shrouded in darkness. We have occasional glimpses of war-lords and statesmen, some probably entirely mythical, others having more appearance of reality. True history commences with the famous Bimbisāra of the Haryaṅka kula who launched his people in that career of conquest and aggrandisement which only ended when Aśoka sheathed his sword after the conquest of Kaliṅga.

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The family of Bimbisāra was responsible for the fortification of a village at the confluence of the Son and the Ganges which grew into the city of Pāṭaliputra and soon replaced the old capital, Girivraja-Rājagriha. It also saw, and actively supported, the growth of the religious movements associated with Vardhamāna Mahāvīra and Gautama Buddha.

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According to Buddhist tradition the Bimbisārids made room for a new line styled Śaiśunāga. The Purāṇic chronicles, however, do not distinguish between the two families and make Śaiśunāga the common ancestor of the kings belonging to both the groups.

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Śaiśunāga rule seems to have ended in a tragedy. The last notable ruler of the line fell a victim to a plot engineered by an all powerful official who had "advanced to too near a place in the confidence of the monarch".

The Nandas

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With the passing of the Śaiśunāgas from the stage and the assumption of supreme authority by the regicide, who is no other than the famous founder of the Nanda line, we enter upon a new epoch in the history of this country. For the first time we have an empire which transcends the boundaries of the Gangetic basin. It is not a loose assemblage of virtually independent states or feudal baronies which have a wholesome respect for the power and might of a *roi soleil*, but an integrated monarchy under an *Ekarāṭ* (single ruler) possessed of vast resources in men and money. The old, almost uninterrupted, ascendancy of clans claiming the blue blood of Kshatriyas is at an end. The new ruler is a *novus homo* who wages a war to the knife on the Kshatriyas and rouses the relentless hostility of the most astute of the politically minded Brāhmaṇas of the age. He incarnates, according to the Purāṇic chroniclers, the spirit of the Iron Age (Kali) and his accession is taken to mark a chronological epoch like the birth of Parikshit several centuries earlier.

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the classical account of the pedigree of Alexander's Magadhan contemporary who was the predecessor of Chandragupta Maurya. Referring to this prince who occupied the throne of Pāṭaliputra when, according to Plutarch, Chandragupta met Alexander in the Punjab, Curtius¹ informs us that "his father was in fact a barber, scarcely staving off hunger by his daily earnings, but who, from his being not uncomely in person, had gained the affections of the queen, and was by her influence advanced to too near a place in the confidence of the reigning monarch. Afterwards, however, he treacherously murdered his sovereign, and then, under the pretence of acting as guardian to the royal children, usurped the supreme authority, and having put the young princes to death begot the present king".

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¹ M'Crindle, Invasion of Alexander, p. 220.

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There has been some difference of opinion as to whether "the present king" (Agrammes) of Curtius ruling in 326 B. C. refers to the first Nanda himself or to one of his sons. The classical testimony leaves no room for doubt on the point. Agrammes was born to the purple. His father had already usurped supreme authority and put the legitimate heirs to the throne to death. The description of "the present king" can hardly be applied to the first Nanda who was gaṇikākushi-janma (born of a courtesan) and whose father did not exercise sovereign power. We have therefore to conclude that Agrammes, or Xandrames as he is called by Diodorus, belonged to the second generation of the usurping family and his father was the first Nanda, the Mahāpadma-Ugrasena of Indian tradition.

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The murdered sovereign must have belonged to the line that preceded the Nandas on the throne of Pāṭaliputra. The ruler who answers best to the description given by Curtius and Diodorus is Kākavarṇa-Kālāśoka whose tragic end is alluded to in the Harshacharita, and whose sons—nine or ten in number—were, according to Buddhist tradition, ousted by Ugrasena Nanda. The name Agrammes is possibly a distorted form of the Sanskrit Augrasainya, "son or descendant of Ugrasena". It may be noted in this connection that Augrasainya as a royal epithet may be traced back to the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* where it occurs as a patronymic of Yudhāmśraushṭi.¹

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¹ The use of patronymics, or metronymics, instead of the personal name, is by no means rare in Indian history. The cases of Assakenus, Porus, Pandion show that in several cases classical writers did not take the trouble of acquainting themselves with the personal designations of princes.

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The rise of an all powerful official in the time of the later Śaiśunāgas probably indicates that the system of administration had undergone remarkable changes since the days of Bimbisāra. That monarch had exercised a rigid control over his *mahāmātras*, dismissing those who advised him badly and rewarding those whose counsel he approved. The result of the "purge" was the emergence of the type of official represented by Varshakāra and Sunitha whose rigour and efficiency are well illustrated in the Buddhist Texts. The situation must have changed considerably towards the end of the Śaiśunāga epoch. The career of Ugrasena reminds one of that of Bijjala in a later age, and his early relations with the preceding royal family had important points of resemblance with that between Cardinal Mazarin and the family of Louis XIII. If tradition is to be believed the office of a chief minister was maintained throughout the Nanda period, though the functionary in question never reached the pre-eminent position that Ugrasena occupied in the days of his royal master. Jaina and Hindu writers refer to a distinguished line of imperial chancellors from Kalpaka to Śakaṭāla and Rākshasa. It is difficult to say if these traditional figures had any historical reality. They are not mentioned in contemporary or semi-contemporary documents. But "advisers of the king", very small in number, but most respected on account of their high character and wisdom, are mentioned by Greek observers who wrote about conditions in the fourth century B. C.

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Next to the "advisers of the king" probably stood the "generals of the army". One official of this class, Bhadrasāla, finds prominent mention in the *Milinda-Pañho*. The Nanda army was a powerful fighting machine and we are told by the classical writers that the last king of the line "kept in the field for guarding the approaches of his country, twenty thousand cavalry, and two hundred thousand infantry, besides two thousand four-horsed chariots, and, what was the most formidable force of all, a troop of elephants which ran up to the number of three thousand".¹ Diodorus and Plutarch raise the number of elephants to four thousand and six thousand respectively. The latter puts the strength of the army of the Gangetic nations at eighty thousand horse, two hundred thousand foot, eight thousand war chariots, besides six thousand fighting elephants.

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¹ M'Crindle, *Invasion*, pp. 221-22.

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It is no wonder that the lord of such an immense host should aspire to be a sole monarch, an *Ekarāṭ*, of the vast regions stretching from the Himalayas to the Godāvari or its neighbourhood. The historians of Alexander speak of the most powerful peoples who dwelt beyond the Beas as being under one sovereign. Q. Curtius Rufus, for instance, gives the following particulars: "Beyond the river (Hyphasis or Beas) lay extensive deserts.. Next came the Ganges, the largest river in all India, the farther bank of which was inhabited by two nations, the Gangaridae and the Prasii, whose king was Agrammes"². The account of Diodorus is similar. But he calls the king Xandrames instead of Agrammes. The account of Plutarch, or the English translation, seems to suggest that the "Gandaritai" (Gangaridae) and the "Prasiai" had separate kings, and this is said to find support in the number of horses, war-chariots and fighting elephants assigned to the "kings" of the two nations, which is larger than those assigned to Agrammes-Xandrames by Curtius and Diodorus. But the number of foot soldiers remains the same in all the accounts. The discrepancies regarding the number of elephants etc. may be due to divergence of tradition rather than reinforcement by contingents supplied by an allied king. Pliny informs us that the Prasii surpass in power and glory every other people in all India, their capital being Palibothra (Pāṭaliputra), after which some call the people itself the Palibothri, nay, even the whole tract of the Ganges.

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² *Ibid.*

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Jaina writers refer to the subjugation by Nanda's minister of the whole country down to the seas :-

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*Samudravasan śebhya āsamudramapi śriyaḥ*
*upāyahastairākṛishya tataḥ so'kṛita Nandaśāt*

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Purāṇic chroniclers speak of the extermination by Mahāpadma of all kshatriyas. This is taken to imply that he uprooted all the kshatriya families which ruled contemporaneously with the Śaiśunāgas (*tulya-kālam bhaviṣyanti sarve hy ete mahikṣitaḥ*)¹, viz., the Ikshvākus, Pañchālas, Kāśeyas, Haihayas, Kaliṅgas, Aśmakas, Kurus, Maithilas, Śūrasenas, and the Vitihotras.

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¹ Pargiter, *DKA*., p. 23.

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The Ikshvākus were the ruling clan of Kośala, roughly corresponding to modern Oudh. They had been humbled by Ajātaśatru, the son of Bimbisāra. The history of the clan after the famous rulers Prasenajit and his son Viduratha is obscure. A passage of the *Kathāsaritsāgara* refers to the camp (*kaṭaka*) of Nanda in Ayodhyā. Apparently the king had undertaken an expedition to Kośala. An important section of the Ikshvākus seems to have been driven southwards as they are found in the third or fourth century A. D. in occupation of the lower valley of the Kṛiṣṇā.

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The Pañchālas occupied the tract of country between the upper Ganges and the Gumti together with a part of the Central Doab. They do not appear to have come into hostile contact with the Magadhan monarchy before the rise of the Nandas, and must have been brought under control by that dynasty, as the evidence of the classical writers seems to suggest.

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The Kāśeyas, or the people inhabiting the district round Benares, had come under the Magadhan sway as early as the days of Bimbisāra and Ajātaśatru. It is recorded in the Purāṇas that a Śaiśunāga prince was "placed in Benares" when the founder of the line took up his residence in Girivraja, the Magadhan capital in early times. It was apparently from a descendant or successor of this prince that Nanda wrested control over the people of Kāśi.

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The Haihayas are found in possession of a part of the Narmadā valley down to mediaeval times. Their earlier capital was at Māhishmatī, which has been identified by Pargiter with the rocky island of Māndhātā and by others with a town named Maheśvara on the northern bank of the Narmadā within the boundaries of the Indore state. The subjugation of this region by the Nandas does not seem to be improbable in view of the Purāṇic statement about the humiliation of the rulers of the neighbouring realm of Avanti by their Śaiśunāga predecessors. But there is lack of confirmation by independent witnesses. It has however to be remembered that both Malwa and Gujarat formed integral parts of the Magadhan empire in the days of Chandragupta towards the close of the fourth century B.C., and the way may have been prepared by the Nandas.

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The Kaliṅgas occupied the extensive territory stretching from the river Vaitaraṇī in Orissa to the Varāhanadī in the Vizagapatam District. Its capital in ancient times was the famous city of Dantakura or Dantapura which has been identified with the fort of Dantavaktra near Chicacole in the Ganjam district, washed by the river Languliya (Lāṅgulinī). The conquest of a part of Kaliṅga by Nanda is suggested by the Hāthigumphā record. The phraseology of the inscription hardly supports the view held by some scholars that the Nandarāja mentioned therein is a local chief. The reference is doubtless to a conqueror who established his authority over a sanniveśa (place) of Kaliṅga and constructed some irrigation works in the province.

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The Aśmakas occupied a part of the Godāvarī valley with their capital at Potali, Potana, or Podana. The last form of the name reminds one of Bodhan to the south of the confluence of the Mañjirā and the Godāvarī not very far from Nizamabad in the Hyderabad state. The existence on the Godāvarī of a city called "Nau Nand Dehra" (Nander), a little to the west of the Nizamabad District, renders it probable that the dominions of the "Nine Nandas" may have embraced the classic land of the Aśmakas, though independent confirmation by contemporary or semi-contemporary writers is not available.

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The Kurus, as is well known, occupied the country to the west of the Pañchālas stretching from the Ganges to the river Sarasvati (modern Sarsuti) which flows past the sacred site of Kurukshetra near Thanesar. The subjugation of this territory by the Nandas is not expressly mentioned by any contemporary authority, but is rendered probable by the Greek evidence in regard to "the dominions of the nation of the Praisioi and the Gandaridai" which seem to have embraced the whole tract of the Ganges.

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The Maithilas were the people of Mithilā, a city famed in the epics owing to its connection with the heroine of the Rāmāyaṇa and her father Janaka. It has been identified with the small town of Janakpur within the Nepal border, north of where the Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur Districts meet. The greater part of Northern Bihar, over which the powerful confederation of the Vrijis (including the Lichchhavis) had exercised sway, had been annexed by Ajātaśatru, and his successors are known to have graced Vaiśālī, the capital, with their presence on occasions. If the Purāṇic tradition has any value the chieftains of Mithilā must have retained a certain amount of independence in the fastnesses of the Nepalese Tarai. The periodical floods from the Gaṇḍak, the Bāgmati and connected streams during the rainy season must have rendered this part of the country very difficult of access and it is not surprising that the forests of the Tarai should have sheltered an autonomous principality when the great city of Vaiśālī fell before the onslaught of Ajātaśatru. The Nandas attained greater success as they could operate from their base in Vaiśālī.

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The Śūrasenas, the Sourasenoi of Megasthenes, had their capital at Mathurā on the banks of the Jumna. Their subjection to the Prasii appears very probable from the accounts of Alexander's historians.

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The Vitihotras are closely associated with the Haihayas and the Avantis in Purāṇic tradition. Their sovereignty is said to have terminated before the rise of the famous line of Pradyota. If the Purāṇic statement, found in a later passage of the Bhaviṣyānukīrtana, about the contemporaneity of some of the Vitihotras with the Śaiśunāgas, has any value, the latter may have restored some scion of the old line when they took away the glory (yaśaḥ kṛtsnam) of the Pradyotas.

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As already stated, the undoubted control that Chandragupta Maurya exercised over Western India including the Girnar region makes it highly probable that the way had been left clear by his Nanda predecessors. Jain writers expressly mention the Nandas among the successors of Pālaka, the son of Pradyota of Avanti.

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Much of the information given above relating to the conquests of the first Nanda is derived from late works. But the evidence of Greek writers, taken together with the testimony of the Hāthigumphā epigraph leaves no room for doubt that the dynasty that ruled over the eastern nations of India in the days of Alexander exercised sway over practically the whole of the Gangetic basin together with some portion, if not the whole, of Kaliṅga. Some ingenuity has been shown by certain writers in drawing a distinction between Pūrva Nandas (earlier Nandas) and Nava Nandas (new or later Nandas) and identifying a prince of the former group with the Nandarāja of Khāravela's inscription. But the theory rests on an unjustifiable interpretation of the expression *pūrva Nanda* used by Kshemendra and other epitomisers and redactors of the *Brihakathā*. The Purāṇic as well as the Ceylonese tradition knows of the existence of only one Nanda line and all writers including those belonging to Jaina persuasion take the word *Nava* in the expression *Nava Nanda* to mean *nine* and not *new*. Pūrva-Nanda is the designation of a single king and not of a dynasty and he is distinguished not from the Nava Nandas but from a pseudo-Nanda (Yogananda), the reanimated corpse of king Nanda.

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Several Mysore inscriptions state that Kuntala, a territory which included the southern part of the Bombay Presidency and the contiguous portions of Hyderabad state and the state of Mysore, was ruled by the Nandas. But these are of comparatively modern date (*c.* A. D. 1200), and too much cannot be built upon their statement. It has however to be admitted that no satisfactory account is yet available of the expansion of the Magadhan empire beyond the Kṛṣṇā and the Tuṅgabhadrā which must have taken place before the promulgation of the Aśokan inscriptions of the Kurnool and Chitaldroog districts dated in the third century B. C.

Administration

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We have very little information as to the way in which the vast dominions of the Nandas were administered. If tradition is to be believed the founder of the line clearly aimed at the establishment of a unitary state. The reference to the extermination of all the Kshatriyas, coupled with the use of the terms *ekarāṭ* and *ekachchhatra* can have no other meaning. Greek writers, however, make separate mention of the Prasii and the Gangaridae, though hinting at their subjection to a common sovereign, and Arrian notices the existence beyond the Beas of "an excellent system of internal government under which the multitude was governed by the aristocracy, who exercised their authority with justice and moderation". The aristocratic government, to which the classical writer refers, cannot fail to remind one of the *sanghas* of the Kurus, the Pañchālas and others, mentioned by the *Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra*, who bore the title of *rājā* (*rājaśabdopajīvinaḥ*). The flourishing condition of the areas in question where "the inhabitants were good agriculturists", the land exceedingly fertile and the internal government excellent, is in striking contrast with conditions prevailing in the home provinces of the Prasian (Magadhan) monarchy where "the king was detested and held cheap by his subjects". It appears from the evidence that is available to us that Nandas allowed a considerable amount of autonomy to the people in the outlying parts of their empire, e. g., the Gangetic delta and the territories lying beyond Oudh. But the home provinces embracing the ancient *janapadas* of Magadha (South Bihār), Vṛiji (North Bihār), Kāśī (Benares), Kośala (Oudh) etc. were treated in the same way as the sultans of Delhi dealt with the metropolitan province and the river country of the Doab. The presence of the king not only in Pāṭaliputra, the capital of Magadha, but also in Viśālā or Vaiśālī, the capital of the Vṛiji country in North Bihār, is vouched for by tradition, and we have also an interesting reference to an encampment at Ayodhyā. The strong position held by the Nandas in the heart of their dominions as contrasted with their comparative weakness in the frontier regions is the theme of certain interesting anecdotes that the Buddhist commentator on the Great Chronicle of Ceylon, and other late writers tell of Chandragupta's ambitious adventure on the threshold of his career. The stories no doubt belong to the domain of folklore and certain motifs have a surprising resemblance with the Alfred saga. But the central idea may have been based on genuine tradition.

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Greek observers of the fourth century B. C. and the epitomisers of a later age allude to a system of provincial government under officials styled nomarchs and hyparchs. A nomarch is a local ruler or governor of a nome or district. The word hyparch is sometimes used to denote a satrap. But the functionary in question is at times spoken of as a subordinate of a satrap. Though the officials are mentioned chiefly in connection with the Punjab in the days of Alexander and the Magadhan empire in the Maurya period, it is permissible to conjecture that the provincial system under the Nandas, specially in the districts under their undisputed sway, was not very different. In the third century B. C. we hear of administrative charges called āhāra, vishaya, janapada etc. under functionaries styled mahāmātras rājūkas, prādeśikas and rāshṭriyas who seem to answer to the nomarchs and hyparchs mentioned by the Greeks.

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The lowest administrative unit was the village. In the Praśna Upanishad, a later Vedic text, we hear of adhikṛitas appointed for grāmas or villages by the samrāṭ or emperor. Grāmikas or village headmen find mention in the early Pali Canon who possibly correspond to these adhikṛitas. In the early days of the Magadhan monarchy the king appears to have kept himself in close touch with these village functionaries. We hear of a big assembly of thousands of grāmikas held by Bimbisāra. There is no evidence that the Nandas followed this example and the detestation of the people, to which classical writers bear witness, ill accords with any close touch with life in the rural areas. Such a contact was only reestablished when Aśoka in the third century B. C. undertook pious tours even to villages in outlying areas in pursuance of his policy of dharmānuśasti.

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According to certain manuscripts of the Vāyu Purāṇa, which is one of the oldest works of this class and is referred to by Bāṇa in the seventh century A.D., the first Nanda ruled for twenty-eight years, and was followed by his sons who ruled for twelve years. Tāranātha, too, assigns a period of twenty-nine years to Nanda. If this chronological scheme be accepted, the first Nanda could hardly have died before c. 338 B.C. as one of his sons was reigning in 326 B.C. and the dynasty must have come to power not earlier than c. 367-66 B. C. But as stated above there is hardly any unanimity among our authorities, Purāṇic, Jain and Buddhist, regarding the reign period of Ugrasena Mahāpadma and the total duration of the rule of his family.

Later Nandas

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Among the sons of the first Nanda referred to in the Purāṇas, Sahalya or Sahalin seems to have been the eldest. Most of the *Matsya* Mss. spell the name as Sukalpa. But a *Vāyu* Mss. gives the form Sahalya which, as pointed out by Barua, corresponds to Sahalin of the *Divyāvadāna*. The names of the sons of the first Nanda given in the *Mahābodhivaṃsa* are altogether different, and have not yet been confirmed from independent sources. The name of the last prince, Dhana Nanda is unknown to the classical writers who mention Agrammes or Xandrames as the name of the prince of the "barber" dynasty, who occupied the throne when Alexander was on the banks of the Beas.

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Xandrames, the name mentioned by Diodorus, has been taken by some scholars to answer to the Sanskrit Chandramas, and identified with Chandragupta Maurya. But Plutarch clearly distinguishes between "Androkottos" and the king of the "Praisiai" in the days of Alexander, and his account receives confirmation from that of Justin. Xandrames or Agrammes was the son of a usurper born after his father had obtained the supreme authority among the Prasii, while Chandragupta was himself the founder of a new sovereignty, the first ruler of his dynasty. The father of Xandrames was a barber who could claim no royal ancestry. On the other hand, Indian writers are unanimous in representing Chandragupta as a scion of a race of rulers, though they differ in regard to the identity of the family and its claim to be regarded as of pure Kshatriya extraction. Jain evidence clearly suggests that the barber usurper is identical with the *nāpita kumāra* or *nāpitasū* who founded the Nanda line.

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The figures of the eight princes who succeeded the first Nanda are rather shadowy and we do not know how far the tradition recorded by late writers can be accepted as sober history. The last of them is said to have been addicted to hoarding treasure. He amassed riches to the amount of eighty *koṭis*. In a rock in the bed of the river Ganges he caused a great excavation to be made for the purpose of burying the treasures he had acquired. Levying taxes, along with other articles, even on skins, gums, trees and stones, he amassed further riches which he disposed of similarly. This account taken from the commentary on the Great Chronicle of Ceylon can claim some antiquity. Professor Nilakanta Sastri points out that a Tamil poem contains an interesting reference to the "very famous" Nandas "victorious in war, who having accumulated treasure first in beautiful Pāṭaliputra hid it in the waters of the Ganges". Hiuen Tsang, the famous Chinese pilgrim of the seventh century A. D. refers to "the five treasures of king Nanda's seven precious substances"¹.

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¹ Watters, ii p. 296.

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The accumulation of an enormous amount of wealth, to which all our authorities bear witness, probably implies a good deal of financial extortion and it is not surprising that the Nanda contemporary of Alexander "was detested and held cheap by his subjects as he rather took after his father than conducted himself as the occupant of a throne."

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The oppressed people soon found a leader. Plutarch and Justin refer to a young lad named Androkottos or Sandrocottus, doubtless identical with the famous Chandragupta, who visited Alexander in the Punjab, and showed a keen interest in the affairs of the Prasii. "Not long afterwards" he mounted the throne and "shook off from the neck" of India "the yoke of servitude" by overthrowing the existing government in India and expelling the prefects of Alexander. Indian chronicles introduce by his side another figure, a *dvijarshabha* named Kauṭilya or Chāṇakya, whom tradition represents as an inhabitant of Taxila.

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While some of the Indian writers, notably the author of the Sanskrit play entitled the Mudrā-Rākshasa, are chiefly concerned with the battle of intrigue conducted by Kauṭilya, the Milinda Pañho affords us a glimpse of the clash of arms between the contending forces of the Nandas and the Mauryas. "There was Bhaddasāla (Bhadraśāla), the soldier in the service of the royal family of the Nandas, and he waged war against king Chandagutta ( Chandragupta ). Now in that war, there were eighty corpse dances. For they say that when one great head holocaust has taken place by which is meant the slaughter of ten thousand elephants, and a lac of horses, and five thousand charioteers, and a hundred koṭis of soldiers on foot, then the headless corpses arise and dance in frenzy over the battle field". The passage contains a good deal of mythical embellishment. But we have here reminiscence of the blood bath through which Chandragupta had to wade to the throne.

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The glamour of the Nandas has been dimmed by the greater splendour of the succeeding dynasty. But it is well to remember what the kings of the line bequeathed to their immediate successors and to posterity. They had, to use the words of Smith, "compelled the mutually repellent molecules of the body politic to check their gyrations and submit to the grasp of a superior controlling force". They developed a fighting machine that was used by the later rulers of Magadha with terrible effect in resisting the onslaught of foreign invaders and carrying on the policy of expansion within the borders of India that had been inaugurated by Bimbisāra and Ajātaśatru.

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If tradition recorded by the epitomisers of the Brihatkathā is to be believed, Pāṭaliputra under Nanda rule became the abode (kshetra) of Sarasvatī as well as Lakshmī, the home of learning as well as of material prosperity. A galaxy of scholars—Varsha, Upavarsha, Pāṇini, Kātyāyana, Vararuchi, Vyāḍi—is said to have added lustre to the age. While much of the traditional account may be mere folklore unworthy of credence, we may well believe that the cultivation of grammer received an impetus in this age. The scholia on Pāṇini, presupposed by the great commentary of Patañjali, show acquaintance with the *Yavana lipi*, and it is by no means improbable that some of the predecessors of Patañjali are to be assigned to the Nanda Age. Kings of the line are credited by certain grammarians with the establishment of a particular kind of measure (*Nandopakramāṇi mānāni*).

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In social matters the rise of Nandas may be regarded as symptomatic of a surging up of the lower classes. The Purāṇic chroniclers represent the dynasty as harbingers of Śūdra rule and as irreligious (*adhārmika*). The last statement is significant in view of the traditional connection of the family with Jain ministers and patriarchs. But the evidence on the point is of a character which makes it difficult to build too much on it.

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